The Gunners turned around a 10 point defIcit to beat the Blues comfortably. in front of a sparse crowd at the Meadowbank Stadium
Read in depth match reports and check the line-ups an scoring details on the official Celtic Cup website
Blues fly-half Nick Robinson kicked an early penalty goal and the Blues pressed home their territorial advantage when prop Ken Fourie was shoved over by his pack.
Edinburgh hit back in the 23rd minute with a great move that involved virtually all 15 home players and resulted in a try to centre Marcus Di Rollo that sparked the home side’s confidence.
Di Rollo went from hero to zero when he was yellow-carded for persistent infringing, but Cardiff failed to take advantage of their extra man. Instead, Edinburgh began playing rugby, and prop Allen Jacobsen scored under the posts after a skilful run from fullback Derrick Lee.
Laney’s conversion gave the home side a 14-13 lead and it was to get worse for the Blues. Hot on attack, Robinson tried a grubber-kick through, but Edinburgh grabbed possession and spun it wide to winger Hugo Southwell, who sped past Lee
Abdul and gave centre Tom Philip a straight run to the line.
The Blues opened the scoring in the second half with Robinson’s third penalty goal, but Edinburgh hit back when replacement prop Joel Brannigan reached over the line to score, and Laney’s conversion gave his side a valuable 26-16 lead.
The bizarre sin-binning of winger Craig Morgan – for collapsing a maul, of all things – and replacement hooker Gareth Williams for a professional foul ended Welsh hopes of a comeback and scrum-half Rory Lawson’s late try came as no surprise.
Earlier, Connacht made history at Stradey Park on Friday night when they qualified for the semi-finals of the Celtic Cup with a dramatic victory over the Scarlets.
Connacht had lost all four quarter-finals they contested but they got rid of that hoodoo once and for all by beating the then only the unbeaten side in Celtic competition.
Llanelli had two penalty opportunities in stoppage time to steal the match but Gareth Bowen was off target and Connacht, playing their fourth away match in succession, were safely through to the semi-finals.
Read in depth match reports and check the line-ups an scoring details on the official Celtic Cup website
